The 2013 version of Wintershred went down February 23 in sunny, but very windy San Francisco. The wind was so strong (20-25 mph, at least) that it blew us off the Beach and in to Golden Gate Park where we found a nice little spot to jam where there was actually very little wind.
We had an interesting turn out of Freestylers this year. Some new up and coming players and some surprise appearances from the past showed up and mixed it up for most of the afternoon. New to Wintershred and relatively new to Freestyle competition, was Johnny Trevino coming down with Mike Galloupe from Seattle. His energy and enthusiasm for the game energized the local crust for hours and hours. We also got a blast from the past when old school jammer John Barsky showed up with Keith Armstrong. It was the first time he had nailed up and played in 20 years. His jamming buddies from the early days were Krae Van Sickle and John Dwork back in the Big Apple for gosh sakes. He proved that he could still get it done, and that muscle and neural freestyle memory actually has a longer shelf life that you might expect. He dusted off some cool old school moves and a variety of especially crusty yet tasty ambidiscareous throws. I was often left trying to determine which spin was coming at me. Keith had been absent for awhile, as well, yet showed no loss of skill. Infact, after peeling out series after hein series I joked that he should take two years off more often.
The competition was a random draw pairs format performed at a ‘compromised’ 3.5 minutes per routine. Bonus points were given for Gitis catches, Scarecrow Catches, and a foot brush to a partner’s catch. Depending on how hein the move was completed, 1-3 points were given. These points were added to an overall score of 1-10 points for a total score.
First up was Seattle jammer and newly crowned World Mixed Pairs champion Mike Galloupe. He was teamed with local Bay Area Jammer Rick Moody. These guys played well with Mike providing big moves and hitting all the bonus point categories. Rick was mister consistency. After Mike’s early thunderous Gitis they did struggle a bit to get the scarecrow and foot brush and it may have cost them some on the overall score. They finished in third.
Next up Doug Korns paired up with Johnny Trevino. These guys were on and hit their moves throughout, though the foot brush catch was eluding them for most of the routine. They got it near the end and got it good. Johnny hit multiple gitis, and some cool complex series, while Doug hit all his signature moves including a solid UD Crow. They finished in 1st place.
Third up, the old master John Barsky teamed up with me (Carl Dobson) for fun jam on the grass. John was going all tasty old school moves, series and throws. I felt like I was jamming back in the 70’s again. Even our music was a remix of the old Byrds song ‘8 Miles High’. I hit a quick spinning crow and then we picked off another bonus move when I kick brushed a long high pass to John. I thought for a second it was to high, but no problem John casually spun into a nice blind around the head seal. Just one gitis was left for a trifecta, but alas that proved elusive as I missed a couple tries. We finished in second.
Up last was Mike Esterbrook and Keith Armstrong. These guys really played well with good flow, lots of passing and the highest scoring bonus move with Keith’s crash and burn double spinning gitis for 2.5 pts. They got a decent crow as well, but struggled with the kick brush and that may have brought them down a bit. They finished in 4th.
1st- Johnny Trevino/Doug Korns: 35.25 pts.
2nd- Carl Dobson/John Barsky: 34.75 pts.
3rd- Mike Galloupe/Rick Moody: 30.5 pts.
4th- Keith Armstrong/Mike Esterbrook: 27.75 pts.
The jamming was awesome all day, with a good vibe going all the while. Some of us kept it going until 5pm and flights had to be caught back to Seattle.
Hope some of you can make it to next years Wintershred.